Medifast French Toast Sticks

This recipe is from Take Shape For Life. I haven't made it yet, but I think it looks amazing! Plus, the reviews are really good on it. I wanted to post it here, mostly so I wouldn't lose the recipe. Comment and let me know how you like it.

French Toast Sticks - 1 serving

Ingredients:
1 packet Medifast Cinnamon & Brown Sugar Cereal Crunch
1 tbl low-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup liquid egg substitute
1/2 packet Medifast Syrup

Directions:
1. Pulverize the cereal.
2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl except the syrup. Let sit until egg is completely absorbed.
3. Form mixture into four pieces, about four inches long, and place in a non-stick pan.
4. Cook over medium-high heat until both sides are brown.
5. Serve wtih 1/2 packet of Medifast Syrup, if desired.

Becoming Me

This really sums up how I feel. I am looking for that girl I know I am, the girl I used to be. The girl I lost in the shuffle of creating a life for my family. She is way more fabulous than I currently give her credit for! She is slowly emerging again.

TSFL Medifast "Doritos"

Don't these look delicious? These are chips made out of Medifast Mac & Cheese. You can flavor them pretty much however you like. They are thin and crispy and satisfying.

You can eat this whole bowl!

To be fair, they don't taste anything like Doritos, but they are tasty, nonetheless. You can eat these strait up, or with a little salsa. I think they would also be great for a taco salad, although I would not put them on the bottom of the salad as they would probably get soggy really quick.

Here's what you need:

1 packet Medifast Macaroni & Cheese

2 Tbs. water

1/4 tsp red pepper or chili flakes (give or take depending on your spice tolerance)

1/4 tsp garlic salt

chili powder

cooking spray

Put your mac & cheese, chili flakes & garlic salt in  your pulverizing weapon of choice, i.e. Magic Bullet, food processor, etc. Blitz until fine powder like this.

Dump into a bowl and add water. stir to combine thoroughly and let sit for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, spray a good size piece of parchment with cooking spray then place dough on paper.

Now, this part is important: Fold the parchment in half over the dough and use your hands to spread the dough out from the center towards the edges. It's really important to get it as thin and even as possible. I'm talking PAPER thin, otherwise you'll have chewy crackers instead of nice crispy chips.

Now, carefully peel off the top layer of parchment, using your fingers at times to release it if it sticks. It usually only sticks a little bit on the edges. I trim the parchment so it will lay flat on my cookie sheet.

Sprinkle the chili powder lightly over the top, and a little bit of garlic salt if you like.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Remove and use a pizza cutter to cut into chip-size pieces. A lot of my chips were fully cooked at this point (usually the ones on the edges) so I removed them from the pan. 

You can tell when they're done because they are crisp and golden. You can tell if they need a few                         more minutes if they are slightly pliable and lighter in color.

Flip them over and bake for a few more minutes, keeping a close eye on them, until they look like this.

Voila! Cheesy chips! 

Like I said, you can flavor these any way you like. You could probably do a lemon pepper, cumin, powdered chipotle or cayenne, smoked paprika, garlic pepper, Italian seasoning, curry, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

TSFL Medifast Blueberry Muffin Granola

Doesn't this look yummy? Guess what; it tastes amazing!

I've seen other Medifast granola recipes on the internet, but they all looked like doggy kibble. This looks and tastes like REAL granola!

I recommend that you get a digital scale that can measure in grams. I got this postal scale at Walmart for about $16. It will come in really handy for the entire program.

Medifast Blueberry Muffin Granola

(Makes 8 servings)

4 Medifast Cinnamon Raisin Crunch Bars

4 packets Medifast Blueberry Oatmeal

40 pistachio kernals

1 oz. sliced almonds

3/4 cup water

Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees F. Break the bars into pieces and microwave 20 seconds. Add the oatmeal & nuts and mix with a fork. Add water and combine. The mixture should be crumbly, but stick together when pressed between fingers.

Place a sheet of parchment on a cookie sheet and lightly spray with cooking spray. You may not need the parchment, but it makes it easier to take it off the pan. Spread the granola on the pan, breaking up the large clumps into small uniform clusters. Bake for 10 minutes (Picture below is after 10 minutes).

Remove from oven and stir. Spread out again and break up large clusters. This will ensure all your clusters bake evenly and are crunchy instead of chewy.  Bake another 5 minutes.

Remove from oven, stir and spread again. Continue baking until a nice warm golden color. Watch it closely though.  This is what it should look like when it's finished. When it's cool test it for crunchiness. You can bake it a little longer if necessary.

Here's where the scale comes in handy. Measure the entire batch, then divide by 8. In this case, the total weight was 305 grams. That makes 8 servings of 38 grams each.

Portion them into ziplock bags and store.

*Note* If you are having trouble losing, you may want to hold off on the granola because it contains 1/2 optional snack per serving. You should only eat the snack if your carb count for the day is below the fat burning limit of 80 - 100 grams.

Each serving counts as 1 MF Meal and 1/2 optional snack. Eat with 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk = 1/4 - 1/2 condiment.  Here's a guide  http://www.medifastmedia.com/shared/docs/condiment_recommendations.pdf

You can do all sorts of variations of this granola with the different flavors of oatmeal and bars. I've never tried it with any of the bars with chocolate on them, so I don't know it that will work. I would not use the caramel crunch bar. I think the caramel would burn and be a big mess.

TSFL "Fried" Mushrooms

I don't know about you, but I miss fried food! I've made these oven fried mushrooms before I started on TSFL, but they called for cream and flour. I've adapted that recipe, and I think they are divine!

 Crunchy, slightly spicy, mushroom-y, perfect!

TSFL Crunchy "Fried" Mushrooms

2 pounds whole white muchrooms

1/2 packet Medifast Cheese Pizza Bites

1/2 packet Medifast Chili Cheese Puffs

1 packet Medifast Ranch Soy Crisps

1/4 cup egg substitue

few dashes of hot sauce

1/2 tsp salt

Place all three packets of crackers/snacks and the salt into a food processor or blender and pulse until bread crumb consistency. *note - The coarser you leave the crumbs, the crunchier the mushrooms will be. However, the coarser the crumbs, the fewer mushrooms they will cover.* 

Place the mushrooms, egg substitute, and hot sauce in a large plastic bowl with a lid. Secure the lid and shake until all the mushrooms are coated.

Place the mushrooms 4 at a time into the crumbs and shake to coat. Make sure each mushroom is  coated evenly.

Cover a cookie sheet with foil, then place a cooling rack on top of the foil. Spray with cooking spray. Place all the mushrooms on the rack and bake at 450 degrees F for 12 - 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

You can eat these strait up, or with a little Walden Farms dressing. But frankly, I think that stuff is NAST-Y!!! 

If you do like it, my friend says the chipotle ranch isn't bad.

 This makes 2 servings. They re-heat very nicely in the oven.

1 serving (1 lb. mushrooms) = 1 Medifast meal

1/2 snack

1 1/2 cups "green"

(Not sure about the salt. I think I read somewhere that you can have 1/4 tsp added salt per day)

These would be awesome served with a steak or chicken.

YUM!!!

Eureka! - Medifast Cinnamon Granola

 I've been craving something crunchy, like those Nature Valley crunchy granola bars, so I set out trying to make something similar. I mixed 1 fruit & Nut bar with 1 packet Peach Oatmeal, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 20 roughly chopped pistachios, and 3 TBS water, First I made 6 small medallions, and spread the rest out on a lightly sprayed parchment lined cookie sheet & baked at 300 degrees F for 10 min. I stirred it up and baked another 5 minutes. The crumbled granola was done so I took it off the sheet. I kept baking the medallions but I could not get them crunchy enough in the middle, so I ended up crumbling it all up and voila! Granola! It is SO GOOD! This recipe is 2 servings (40 grams each). If you eat 1 serving with 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk it is 165 calories & 16 carbs. It is 1 Medifast Meal, 1/2 snack, & 1 condiment. Yay!

Medifast Cinnamon Granola

Makes 2 servings

1 Fruit & Nut Bar

1 Packet Peach Flavored Oatmeal

1/4 tsp cinnamon

20 pistachio kernels, roughly chopped

3 Tbs. water

Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees F. Break the bar into pieces and microwave 10 seconds. Add the oatmeal, cinnamon & pistachios and mix with a fork. Add water and combine. The mixture should be crumbly, but stick together when pressed between fingers.

Place a sheet of parchment on a cookie sheet and lightly spray with cooking spray. You may not need the parchment, but it makes it easier to take it off the pan.

You can see in this picture my attempt at "granola bites." I ended up crumbling them up because they would not get crispy in the center.

Bake for 10 minutes. Stir and cook an additional 5 minutes. Keep an eye on it the first time you make it as oven times vary. You may need to cook it more or less depending on your oven.

I measured the portions on my digital scale, but if you don't have a kitchen scale just put it all in a measuring cup then divide in half.

Eat with 1/4 cup unsweetened Silk almond milk. A-MAZ-ING!!!

1 serving with almond milk = 165 calories, 16 carbs

1 Medifast meal

1/2 snack

1 condiment

Enjoy!